Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

Skeeter Lewis

Member Since

March 16, 2012

Total number of comments

165

Total number of votes received

207

Bio

Latest Comments

Fora vs Forums

  • May 24, 2014, 10:47am

I confess to being rather fond of the singular of scampi.....'scampo'.
Skeet

Fora vs Forums

  • May 23, 2014, 4:44pm

I know it's not relevant to this thread, but I like the adjective derived from forum - 'forensic', meaning 'of or pertaining to, or trained to give evidence in, a court of law'.
We tend to use it only of forensic scientists nowadays: they are scientists trained to give evidence in court. But formerly one would speak of a lawyer's 'forensic skills', meaning his skill at cross-examining witnesses. (A forum being a place of debate.)
Skeet

As for anglicising the names of foreign countries, we say Germany for Deutschland, Sweden for Sverige etc. I can't see that changing.
The French say Angleterre, la Grande Bretagne etc.

Couldn’t Care Less

  • May 7, 2014, 8:53am

Nice one, Hairy.

“it’s the put-er-on-er-er”

  • April 18, 2014, 2:59am

I've always liked 'dubry' or maybe 'doobry' for a thingamajig. Possibly derived from dewberry.

The usual BE pronunciation of 'debut' is 'daybyoo'. There's no need to imitate the French pronunciation when the word has been in the language long enough.
Americans strain to say 'vaLAY' for valet, centuries after the word entered the language.

Pronounce it your own way without discussing it.

“I’m just saying”

  • March 22, 2014, 10:43am

Off-topic?

“admits to”

  • March 12, 2014, 8:25am

Possibly: 'he admitted the charge' but 'he admitted to committing the offence'. It seems more natural when followed by a verbal noun.

troops vs soldiers

  • February 22, 2014, 6:06am

As for 'decimate', if I didn't use it to mean 'to reduce by one tenth' I wouldn't use it at all. Others are free to use it in any sense they wish.

Questions

Medicine or Medication? October 27, 2012
What’s happening to the Passive? July 30, 2014
The 1900s June 11, 2015